New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1887-07-10

says, represent a stream Of tendency. whether
| il is indeed the main stream, as MIR. HoweliS
holds, is by no means determined, and perhaps
| as vet not determnable. 1t may be. after
all. that the new school itself is but counter
current. and inasmuch as human nature has
undergone little charge during the historic
period there Is doubtless much to be said FOR
the conservative side of the question. But
apart from this 1t is unques tonably true that
certain modern lines of tendency do support
the departure from tradition which Mr. How
ellis formulates so clearly. Materialism Is the
dominant note Of the century. 1t Is materi-
alism which more and more excludes the spir-
itual which attaches itself more and moro
closely to physical conditions, by the extern
sion of luxury the diffusion Of wealth. the
concentration Of art and science upon whatever
makes life easier, smoother more comfortable.
1t must have literature Of its own. Such
literature it must In fact evolve. and what
proceeds from it will Inevitably show Its ma
ture and be marked by its salient character
stcs Now how should a purely materialist
literature tend to any other kind Of fiction
than that Of the new school II obcys tho
laws of It's existence. and the result Is the
strange and partly incomprehensible view OF
the place, value and functions Of Realism so
ably set forth by Mr.. Howells.
At first sight indeed. there may seem some
what of inoompatiblity between the model and
tho school, Tolstoi ID put forward as the
model. Now Tolstoi has distinct spiritual
clement whereas those who profess to study
and follow him have nothing Of this. What
renders their studies in the commonplace so
lifeless, even when most sklful, Is their per-
sstent refusal to recognize any but the physi-
cal side of existence. How they could have
missed the spiritual quality in the Masters
work is the wonder. Yet it is perhaps not so
very perplexing if we seek parallels Christian
ity has been always to many people what
Tolstoi is to the new school Of Realists. They
have accepted the doctrines, venerated the
Founder Of the faith, yet translated every
spiritual truth into terms Of gross worldliness.
and lived the life of heather. What has
happened In religion may easily have been
repeated in literature and so we reach an ex-
PLANTATION of the curious circumstance that the
new school processes to follow Master from
whose central teachings it revolt' so fragrant
w. A little further reflection may induce
doubt whether q school which has already
drifted so far from the principles it thinks it
is adhering to, can be regarded as at all
likely to exercise permanent influence upon
literature II, indeed, the present materialistic
current grows stronger and sweeps away every
thing, the new school Of Realism may endure
as long as the dominant tendency. But stce
it is not credible that Matcrialism as q master
impulse can guide the world to anything but
disaster and confusion, the prospect for the
stability Of the school OF fiction which repre-
scnts tho prevailing cult is not brilliant.
For the moment, however, we have only to
recognize the presence and the growth OF the
new school, and whatever We may hold as to
its justification and its relations to truth we
must agree that nobody could have stated its
position more Interestingly and lucidlY than
Mr. Uowclls